As we take a look at another Central American Neighbor, we move down the map to Costa Rica.  One of the major issues besides an increase in the amount of crime and cost of everything going up in Costa Rica is the crumbling infrastructure.

The Costa Rican government currently lacks the ability to solve, by itself, the problem of public infrastructure that has been neglected for many years.

An opinion piece by Carlos Camacho, published in Elfinancierocr.com highlights the delay in addressing problems in Costa Rica public infrastructure, a problem that directly affects the country’s competitiveness, and gives the example that in the Competitiveness Report by the World Economic Forum 2012-2013, Costa Rica in infrastructure “received a score of 3.8 out of 7, and on the same subject in the overall ranking was ranked 74 out of 144, however, in the category of ‘Road Quality’, Costa Rica was ranked 131 out of 144, and in ‘Port Infrastructure ‘, 140 out of 144. Infrastructure is the second most problematic factor for doing business in the country, just ahead of the problem of state bureaucracy. ”

(Panama on the other hand ranked 40 out of 144 overall,  37 out of 144 for infrastructure and that is a 20% improvement from it’s ranking in 2010-2011 – case closed!)

“… It does not take an expert to notice that the government can not meet the current needs of the national road system, the proof is temporary bridges that end up being quasi-permanent on our roadways.”

“… This neglect in Costa Rica, is linked to a lack of budget and lack of a clear agenda.”

“… PPP’s are the most viable solution to the great need to improve Costa Rica’s infrastructure and to maintain the country as an attractive place for investment. Though the current model of alliances is not the best, with the help of public and private sectors it would be possible to create a list of urgent projects that could be managed via such partnerships. ”

Source: elfinancierocr.com